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174679869
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Newspaper Article, Amendment to Bar Third Term Gets States' "Cold Shoulder," by Fletcher Knebel
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174679869
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Newspaper Article, Amendment to Bar Third Term Gets States' "Cold Shoulder," by Fletcher Knebel
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Records of the National Committee Against Limiting the Presidency
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1951-02-25
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1951
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Amendment To Bar Third Term
Gets States' "Cold Shoulder"
BY FLETCHER KNEBEL
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.-Business
is
acted are scheduled to meet, but all of them
mighty slow these days for Denys P. Myers,
are controlled by Democrats.
the State Department's keeper of constitu-
The Democratic party naturally views the
tional amendments.
amendment with suspicion, regarding it as a
He expected a big trade in the proposed
smug GOP posthumous attack on Franklin
22nd amendment, which would outlaw third
D. Roosevelt, the man who beat Republican
terms for United States Presidents, but Demo-
candidates four times hand running.
cratic State Legislatures are giving it the
cold shoulder.
THE GOVERNMENT'S amendment-keeper
The Republican-sponsored amendment to
actually has six amendments pending. He's
limit the presidential tenure to two four-year
given up the other five for lost, for they've
terms is failing rapidly.
been awaiting action a total of 587 years.
The Republican 80th Congress, pledged to
The most recent is the child labor amend-
prevent a recurrence of the FDR third and
ment, passed by Congress in 1924. It had
fourth terms, passed the amendment with the
two flurries of activity in the State Legisla-
necessary two-thirds vote of both House and
tures, but it gained a total of only 28 states,
Senate on March 24, 1947.
with 36, or three-fourths, of the states needed.
To become part of the Constitution, it re-
Child labor has become a dormant issue.
quired the approval of 36 of the nation's 48
Myers has two amendments which have
State Legislatures within seven years, or by
been in the constitutional cold storage 151
March 24, 1954.
years each. One would have fixed the repre-
sentation in the House and the other would
MYERS, A HARVARD-BRED research ex-
have pegged the salaries of congressmen.
pert in the State Department's legal division,
Both have been handled by statute, but
did a rousing business in 1947. Eighteen
technically they still await action as basic
states ratified the amendment and sent him
parts of the Constitution.
copies of their action.
Then there's an amendment pending since
Not a state has voted to ban third terms
Congress passed it in 1810. It would have
since North Dakota ratified Feb. 25, 1949,
banned the acceptance of titles of nobility in
and brought the total to 23.
this country.
Myers allows the outlook for 1950 is dim.
Another, which passed Congress in 1861,
Seven State Legislatures which have not
would outlaw slavery. war fixed that one.